josie bahnke

The state in September 2017 disclosed it was unsuccessfully targeted by Russia-linked hackers, but a new report says the U.S. intelligence community believed in January 2017 that Alaska had been “compromised.”

I admit the headline to this story may be overly sentimental, but I don’t care. This morning, amid a snowstorm that dashed the hopes of many Anchorageites that spring had finally sprung, a little ray of sunshine poked through in my inbox. The Anchorage city clerk’s office announced that Election Central lives on, at least for local elections.

To start things off we’re going to resurrect the Soapy Smith Awards, once given by our delightful forerunner The Alaska Ear in the old days of the Anchorage Daily News. As the Ear would describe it, “Soapy Smith Award — a citation for dubious achievement, named in honor of Skagway’s Gold Rush con man and all-around scoundrel.”

After days of attacks by the Alaska Republican Party and state legislature majority members on the Alaska Division of Elections (DOE) over voting irregularities in the August 16 state primary election, the Alaska Democratic Party has sent their own letter to DOE Director Josie Bahnke claiming to â€œdebunkâ€ Republican talking points.

The legislative hearing he oversaw was called to look into irregularities at Alaska polling places during the August 16th primary election. There was blame to be laid, but unfortunately, Stoltze and company were, so hell bent on selling the Trump-ish narrative that the system is rigged to rouse the conservative base by merely speaking of voting irregularities that they completely missed the rightful criticism that overseer of elections Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott deserves.